Leadership changes are taking shape at Accu-Die & Mold, Inc. in Stevensville.
After 33 years as president and chief executive officer, company founder Daniel J. Reifschneider has announced he is stepping back and promoting Dan Lausch, vice president of manufacturing, to serve as president. Reifschneider will remain CEO.
“I’m getting older and it’s time for me to get take my beautiful wife out and spend more time with her. The only way I can do that is to put somebody else in charge.”
Reifschneider said he began his career in the trade in 1974, signing up for a cooperative education program in high school to gain additional experience. His father was in the trade and so was his brother. Daniel said going into the family business was natural.
“That’s what we talked about at the dinner table when I was a kid growing up. So for me it was a no brainer. That’s what I was going to do.”
Confident his successor knows the ropes, Reifschneider has appointed Dan Lausch to serve as president. Lausch has been with the company for nearly as long as the company has existed.
“Dan Lausch worked for me for 28 years and then he left and went to a competitor about two years ago and didn’t like it. His heart was with us. And so he came back and when he did, I made him a deal. ‘You’ll be president and I’ll step back into a CEO role and you run this, you run the show.'”
Reifschneider founded the company in 1991. The company delivers dies and molds and specializes in design and manufacture of die cast tooling for a variety of markets. Previously, the company counted among its largest customers the Detroit auto makers including General Motors. But when GM suffered financial setbacks, they cancelled work with their suppliers. Accu-Die & Mold had to find new customers, and they did.
“Well, you can’t live in Michigan without being automotive. That’s just a given. Our biggest customers are probably the transplant companies — the Hondas, the Toyotas, the Nissans– and that’s because of the Great Recession. We were one of the ones that when GM filed bankruptcy, they were too big to fail, but it didn’t say anything about us little guys. And we learned lessons and we went with the people that pay, and you count on them.”
Reifschneider said the company has 33 employees, they’re still hiring more workers, and the business is thriving. The company is known throughout the industry for its quality and innovation. According to the company’s website, they are a full service firm offering engineering, design, construction, and inspection of aluminum and magnesium die cast dies.
Reifschneider said he has long kept an eye on what others in his industry are doing so he could learn from them and keep his company growing. He said the industry today looks little of what it was like in 1974.
“It’s a totally different animal. It used to be done manually. Now it’s all CNC. Everything is programmed. Everything is running in 3 and 4 and 5 axis machining centers. It’s a different beast than it used to be.”
Looking back, Reifschneider said the secret to his leadership is that he worked to create an environment that he himself would like to work in. He also has advice for his incoming president.
“Listen to the people, listen to the customers, and work accordingly.”
